The Colorado Avalanche are far and away the current best team in the NHL. With only one regulation loss over their first 19 games, the Avalanche sit atop the NHL standings with 31 points, four points abreast of anyone else.
The run of other worldly play doesn’t come from nowhere. For a team to take points from 18 of 19 games, all systems must be well oiled – which they currently are for the burgundy and blue.
Several obvious numbers jump off the stat sheet – goal differential, goals per game, total goals, goals against and six wins in a row.
However, some of the not so obvious numbers tell the story of this start. The team is second in the league in penalty killing. They have nine wins when scoring first. They lead the league in total goals.
A key, sometimes overlooked, metric to judge the fate of a team is its face-off percentage. As a team, the Avalanche are 15th in the league, about a 50/50 split when the puck drops. When we look closer at the numbers, it tells a different story, and a likely underlying reason why this team is so good.
Jack Drury has been a shining star in the dot for the team, winning 52.3% of his overall faceoffs this season. This is a vital tool for Drury to be successful at, as his role on the third line and penalty killing offers him many opportunities to put the team into advantageous positions by securing possession of the puck.
Drury is successful nearly 42% of the time at the dot while on the penalty kill, second on the team. With the penalty killing strategy of playing staunch defense, it’s a reasonable number, percentage wise, for a regular penalty killer to be at.
Where Drury really shines is at 5-on-5, where he’s winning an astounding 55.7% of faceoffs. A face-off percentage near 55% is considered elite, and Drury is very clearly in that category.
Both Brock Nelson and Nathan MacKinnon have current success rates just a tick below 50% for the season. MacKinnon is at 49.9% while Nelson is at 49.7% for the year. With MacKinnon and Nelson both expected to provide more influence offensively, a number even close to 50% on draws will do wonders to boost the team’s offense.
MacKinnon converts draws at a 64.9% success rate while on the power play – where he’s scored many of his league leading 33 points this season, and Nelson is successful over 53% of the time in the neutral zone.
These draws in the neutral and defensive zone are immeasurable to a team’s success as victories on faceoffs put the puck on the Avalanche sticks and not the other teams.
With more puck possession comes more opportunities – those of which the team is cashing in this season. The Avalanche lead the league in total shots this season with 497. They are second in shot attempts differential at this point, only trailing Carolina. They lead the league in goals scored.
Although it may seem trivial, faceoffs are of vital importance, as the parity in today’s NHL provides for evenly matched teams. Any edge can flip a game to one result or another. With the Avalanche faring well in this regard on faceoffs, it's been one of the keys to their early success.
More faceoff wins lead to more possessions. More possessions lead to more pucks on net. More pucks on net lead to more goals. Defensive zone faceoff victories lead to clearances and less opponent opportunities, as judged by the Avalanche’s currently second ranked penalty kill.
Faceoffs are important, and the Avalanche have an edge in this area that hopefully continues later into the season.